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SdiSession. j " < ^'••.i. 



No. 466. 



MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 



LIFE AND CHARACTER 



JAMES M. MOODY, 

(Late a Kepkesentativk moM Nokth Casollva). 



LlELn-EKKIi IN THE 



HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND SENATE 



FIFTV-.SEVEXTH CONGRESS, 
Second Session. 



WASHINtrrON: 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 
1903- 






C t c l. t ( 



f^ ^ 




HOM.cflZ^^KlSS M„K;a®®[D)Y 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 

Proceedings in the House of Representatives 5 

Address of Mr. Kluttz, of North Carolina 9 

Remarks of Rev. J. E. Abernethy 12 

Address of Mr. Pou, of North Carolina 15 

Address of Mr. Gibson, of Tennessee 17 

Address of Mr. Thomas, of North Carolina 22 

Address of Mr. Small, of North Carolina 27 

Address of Mr. W. W. Kitchin, of North Carolina 31 

Address of Mr. Lamb, of Virginia 35 

Address of Mr. Clark, of Missouri 38 

Address of Mr. Johnson, of South Carolina 40 

Address of Mr. Blackburn, of North Carolina 42 

Proceedings in the Senate -^^ 47 

Address of Mr. Pritchard, of North Carolina 53 

Address of Mr. Mallory, of Florida 56 

3 



Death of Representative Moody, 



Proceedings in the House. 

Fkkri-akv 5, 1903. 
representative moody, of xokth carolina. 

Mr. Kluttz. Mr. Speaker, it is my .sad duty to announce to 
the House the death of my friend and colleague, Hon. J.\me.S 
MoNTR.vviLLE MooDV, a member of this Hou.se from the vState 
of North Carolina. He died at 1.30 o'clock p. m. to-daj- at his 
home in Waynesville, X. C. This House has lo.st one of its 
mo.st faithful and useful members, and his State a public .serv- 
ant who has honored her in this Conoress, as in every other 
official position he has ever held. 

I shall not at this time trust myself to make any extended 
remarks, but at .some future day his colleagues will a.sk the 
House to take such action upon his death as in its judgment is 
proper. I ask the adoption of the resolutions which I send to 
the desk. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

Resolved, That the House of Representatives has learned with iirofouncl 
sorrow of the death of the Hon. James Montr.wim.k JIooiiv. member 
of this House from the State of North Carolina. 

Resolved, That a committee of members of the House, with such mem- 
bers of the Senate as niaj- be joined, be appointed to take order concern- 
ing the funeral of the dei.eased. 

Resolved, That the Clerk conmiunicate tliese resolutions to the Senate, 
and transmit a copy of the same to the family of the deceased. 

Resolved, That as a further mark i>f respect to the memory of the 
deceased, the House do now adjourn. 

5 



6 Proceedings in the House. 

Tlie Speaker pro tempore. The ({uestion is on the adoption 
of the resolution. 

The question was taken; and pending the announcement of 
the vote, by unanimous con.sent of the House, the Speaker pro 
tempore announced the names of the following members to 
attend the funeral of the deceased: Mr. Kluttz, of North Caro- 
lina; Mr. Blackburn, of North Carolina; Mr. Claude Kitchin, of 
North Carolina: Mr. Brownlow, of Tennessee; Mr. Gibson, of 
Tennessee; Mr. Tate, of Georgia: Mr. Finley, of .South Caro- 
lina; Mr. Johnson, of South Carolina; Mr. Lamb, of Virginia; 
Mr. Haugen, of Iowa; Mr. Henry, of Connecticut; Mr. Randell, 
of Texas; Mr. Cooney. of Missouri; Mr. Pou. of North Carolina; 
Mr. Small, of North Carolina; Mr. Clark, of Mi.ssotiri; Mr. 
Wright, of Pennsylvania, and Mr. Cochran, of Mis.souri. 

The resolutions were agreed to; and then, in accordance 
therewith, and in pursuance of its previous order (at 5 o'clock 
and 5 minutes p. m. ), the House adjourned until 10 o'clock 
a. m. to-morrow. 

February 10, 1903. 

memorial services on the late representative moody. 

Mr. Kluttz. Mr. Speaker, I ask tnianimous consent for the 
present con.sideration of the resolution I send to the Clerk's 
desk. 

The Clerk read as follows; 

Resolved, That when the House meets 011 Sunday, February 22, 1903, it 
shall consider resolutions memorial of the life and public services of Hon. 
James M. Moody, late a Representative from the Ninth Congressional 
district of North Carolina. 

The Speaker pro tempore. The gentleman from North 
Carolina asks unanimous consent for the present consideration 
of the resolution. Is there objection? 

There was no objectioiL 

The resolution was agreed to. 



MEMORIAL ADDRESSES. 

FeBRUAKY 22, 1903. 

The House met at 12 o'clock m., and was called to order 
by Mr. Moody, as Speaker pro tempore. 

The Chaplain of the House, ReY. Henr>- N. Couden, D. D., 
offered the following prayer: 

Eternal, ever living God, our Heavenly Father, we bless 
Thee for that spirit of patriotism and profound gratitude which 
moves the people throughout our nation to meet in connnem- 
oration of the birth of him whom we delight to call the Father 
of our Country. We thank Thee for that mentality which 
enabled him to grasp and solve great problems; for that divi- 
nation which enabled him to penetrate the future and predict 
results: for that personality which enabled him to command 
men; for the fervor of his religious nature which enabled 
him to relj- upon Thee for strength and support, and which 
brought him to his knees at \'alley Forge, the darkest hour in 
that .struggle for liberty, right, and justice, where he received 
consolation and light. Long may his memory live in the 
hearts of his countrymen, and longer yet his deeds inspire 
men to truer, nobler life. 

We meet here to-day in special service to commemorate the 
lives and characters of men who have wrought upon the floor 
of this House and made conspicuous their names in history. 
We ble.ss Thee for them and for what they did. Let the light 
which came down from Heaven in the person of Thy Son fill 
the hearts of the bereaved, that they may .see beyond the veil 

7 



8 Memorial Addresses. 

that larger life in the mansions above. Through Jesus Christ, 
our Lord. Amen, 

Mr. Kluttz. Mr. Speaker, I offer the re.soltitions which I 
.send to the Clerk's desk. 

The Speaker pro tempore. The gentleman from North 
Carolina offers the resolutions which the Clerk will report. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

Resolved, That in pursuance of the special order heretofore adopted, 
the House proceed to pay tribute to the memory of the Hon. jAMES 
MoNTR.wiLLE MooDV, late a member of the House of Representatives 
from the State of North Carolina. 

Resolved, That as a particular mark of respect to the memory of the 
deceased, and in recognition of his eminent abilities as a faithful and 
distingui,shed public servant, the House at the conclu.sion of the memorial 
proceedings shall stand adjourned. 

Resoh'cd, That the Clerk communicate these resolutions to the .Senate. 

Resolved, That the Clerk be, and he is hereby, instructed to send a copy 
of these resolutions to the family of the deceased. 

The resolutions were agreed to. 

March 2, 1903. 

me.s.s.agh from the .sen.ate. 

The message also announced that the .Senate had passed the 
following re.solutions: 

Resolved, That the Senate has heard with profound sorrow the an- 
nouncement of the death of Hon. J.\mes JI. JIooDV.late a Representative 
from the State of North Carolina. 

Resolved, That the business of the Senate be now suspended, in order 
that fitting tribute be paid to his memory. 

Resolved, That as an additional mark of respect the Senate, at the con- 
clusion of these ceremonies, do adjourn. 

Resolved, That the Secretary communicate these resolutions to the 
House of Representatives. 



Address of Mr. Kluttz, of North Carolina, 



Address of Mr. Kluttz, of North Carolina. 

Mr. Speaker: James Montraville Moody was my warm 
personal friend. I had known him for many j-ears, and our 
friendship dated from tiur first acquaintance. We differed 
widely in politics, hut it is a pleasure now to recollect that our 
personal relations were ne\'er affected thereb}-. He was a true 
son of North Carolina, and his heart was big, like the moun- 
tains at whose ba.se he was born and reared and burieil. 

Xo man in a single term in Congress ever acquired more 
general esteem and confidence than he. 

Never nois}' or demonstrative, but alwaj-s courteous, oblig- 
ing, indefatigable, intelligent, he compelled the good will of 
his associates and accomplished much for his constituents. 

So lately did he move among us in apparent health and 
strength it is hard to realize that, in the very maturity of his 
powers, he has gone from us to join the silent "democracy of 
the dead." Few who met him in his last days of .service here 
knew that he was bearing about with him, consciously, yet 
bravely and silently, the almost certainty of his .speedy out- 
going. Lo3'al to his own, he went home to die. 

Born February 12, 1S58, he was not yet 45 years of age, yet 
in the brief span of his life he had filled many po.sitions of 
trust, and always with honor. 

As prosecuting attorney for his judicial district, as State 
senator, as major and division commi.ssary in the Spanish- 
American war, and latterly as a Representative in this House, 
he had worn all honors worthily and well. Simple in his 
habits, unostentatious in his manner, genial in his address, 
candid, and yet con.siderate of the feelings of all, he was 



lo Life and Charades of James I\/. Moody. 

emphatically a man of the people, and the people loved him. 
Most touching were the demonstrations of affection and regret 
as we laid him to rest beneath the shadows of his own loved 
mountains, his bier surrounded by weeping multitudes of life- 
long friends and neighbors. A beloved wife and six devoted 
children survive him, but tliey mourn not as those who have 
no hope, for in life, "before the evil days came nigh," he 
made his peace with God and died in that peace wdiich passeth 
all understanding. 

Let us be warned of the uncertainty of life by his untimely 

taking off. 

Art i.s long, and time is fleeting, 

.\nd our hearts, though stout and brave. 
Still like muffled drums are beating 
Funeral marches to the grave. 

Decay and dissolution are irrevocably written by the iron 
pen of destiny- across the page of life. Life and death are 
interwoven in our being in the very hour of birth, and in all 
life we bear the seeds and certainty of death. The conflict 
between these forces is irrepressible, the end inevitable. 

' ' It is appointed unto all men once to die. " " One event 
happeneth to all: as dies the fool so dies the wise man." 

Fortunate is our endowment, that we can not fully realize 
these great truths in personal application, else life would be but 
living death. 

And yet to each of us the dread summons must come, as it 
has come to all who have lived before us. 

The fathers, where are they? 
To each of us, if .spared from "battle, murder, and sudden 
death," there will some time come a sickness unto death. 
There will be a last gathering of friends and loved ones around 
the bedside, a few faintly spoken adieus, a stilling of the life 
pulse, and the dark wing of the death angel will brush out our 



Address of Mr. Kluttz, of North Carolina. 1 1 

mortal vision forever. Tliere will be the hush of whispered 
voices, and the soft tread of slippered feet in the silent chamber 
of death, a little cortege to the tomb, and the clods of the 
valley will cover us. 

And is this all ? Endeth thus the dream of life in the dark- 
ness and death damp of the grave? 

Shall the funeral pall enshroud us forever? Has He who 
planted reproductive life in the insensate and inanimate failed 
or forgotten it in his highest creature, man? Is man of less 
account than seed, and fruit and flower, and egg and nut, that 
he should die forever, while they perpetuate life perennially? 

Nay, verily the lesson of all life is that man is immortal and 
his life eternal. 

The grave but vainly entombs the chrysalis of immortality. 

" If a man die, .shall he li\-e again?" Yea and amen; by 
every analogy of life, by every law of nature, by every principle 
of evolution, by every deduction of biology, by every yearning 
of the soul, by every revelation of God he shall live again, and 
live forever. Annihilation is the exceptional nightmare of 
wailing despair; immortality the universal intuition of hoping 
humanity. 

And what of that life in the great beyond? We build for 
it here day by day, and as certainly as the builder determines 
the character of his .structure by the material used, so certainly 
do we determine our status in the great hereafter by the life 
we now live in the flesh. "Be not deceived; whatsoever a 
man soweth that .shall he also reap." 

It is a consolation to believe that our departed friend builded 
well; that he found the more than philosopher's stone — the 
pearl of great price — and that it is well with his soul. 

The admonition of this solemn hour is, ' ' Be ye also ready, 
for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh." 



12 Life and Character of James M. Moody. 

Mr. Speaker, I ask permission to append to these remarks 
some extracts from the funeral address bj^ Rev. J. E. Abernethy, 
pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of Waynesville, 
N. C, who was Mr. Moody's pastor. I also ask unanimous 
consent that members who so de.sire may have leave to print. 

The Spf ^ker pro tempore. That order has already been 
made. 

The extracts from the funeral address of Rev. J. E. Abernethy 
are as follows: 

Like the iiiajoritv of great men, Mr.MooDV .spent the first part of his 
life in the midst of .stuhborn difficulties. While he was onlv a poor bov 
laboring on the farm, ardent desires to become useful and di,stinguished, 
hopes and dreams of future greatness, those voiceless longings for im- 
mortality-, filled his veins with fire. The re.stless emulation that at first 
thrilled his ambitious heart at the mention of great names, the wild hopes 
which flu-shed the cheek and made the pulse beat quick as he pondered 
upon the future, never left him. His heart was of heroic mold. .\s he 
struggled up the steep and thorny way of life, his mighty courage laughed 
at the obstacles that crowded about him. Difficulties that have daunted 
and dismayed other men were but stepping stones to him. He had that 
assurance which is ever the companion of genius and that roval faith 
whose eagle eye pierced through the darkest night and saw the day 
beyond. Like the boy of Sparta, when his sword was too short he added 
a step to it. Finally he was crowned with success. 

For twent}- years he has been a leader in almost ever\- public interest of 
this county. His optimistic spirit, his commanding presence, his wealth of 
of common sense, alwaj-s placed him in the forefront of the great movements 
of his people. He had the divine art of doing great things with ea.se. 

As a representative of the bar he was one of the most successful of the 
State. He was especially prominent as a criminal lawyer. His public 
service gave general satisfaction to all classes of people, regardless of faith 
or part\\ .\s State senator, as Congressman, no man ever labored more 
enthusiastically for the good of his county. He .seemed to have every 
man's interest at heart, and he labored hard that he might do the best for 
each and all. He was devoted to his work, and no social occasion ever 
persuaded him away from duty. 

But it is not necessary to speak at length of his public services. Their 
character is the best atte,station of their worth and sincerity. They glow 
upon his country's history. They burn in shinnnering glory upon his 
country's banner. They are written upon hearts of multitudes with a 
st3'lus of fire. 



Address of Mr. Kluttz, of North Carolina. 13 

As a man lie was a ct-nter of attraction, a favorite among all classes of 
people. To know him was to love him. His great heart and personal 
magnetism, his manly sympathy and noble affability, charmed thousands 
into his friendship. On this ground many men of the opposite political 
faith forgot their own party and voted for him. 

It has been said that he was as familiar with the Congressmen, the 
President, and his Cabinet, as he was with the men of his own town, and 
at the same time the poorest boy-the most friendless man in all these 
mountains— found in him a friend in the truest sense. He was preemi- 
nently a friend to the poor and needy. When he could help his friends, 
he did it promptly and with great pleasure. When he was unable to do a 
friend a favor he did not rest until he found some one who could. He 
was often in debt, but it was due to the fact that he borrowed money to 
lighten some man's burden. 

Like all other men, he had his faults, but he was so generous, so chari- 
table, so warm-hearted, so great that many people never recognized any- 
thing in his life but the virtues that made him prominent. He was a 
man of marked character, of pronounced qualities, of Roman dignity, 
and deserved distinction. There was an inflexible integrity in his public 
conduct, an indescribable fascination in his familiar conversation, a con- 
densed energy in his discourse, a quickness of perception, a vigor of 
deduction, a directness and devotedness of purpose in all he did as a 
representative of the people. 

Major JIOODY'S life was an incarnation of the proverb of Sallust: 
"Every man is the architect of his own fortune." 

Many a poor and helpless boy will .see in his life an illustration of the 
mighty fact that the way to greatness is open to all, and from that illus- 
tration many will receive an inspiration to rise from their poverty, igno- 
rance, and lethargy, and take the way that leads to prosperity and 
renown. Great men by the study of his life will become greater. 
Representatives from our Government will receive from his example a 
new accession to their love of patriotism and their pa.ssion for national 
prosperity. 

The news of his death waked the keenest grief in the hearts of thou- 
sands. Countless homes have been darkened by the shadow of this 
death angel's wing. Language has no power to express the overshadow- 
ing, overpowering sense of our country's common loss. 
When his spirit left us. we could but exclaim— 

" .\nother beacon light blown out above us, 
Another buoy bell stilled upon the .sea." 

We all but feel as if a corpse were lying in our own homes. 

Now that he has been taken from our midst, he who has been a guide 
and a leader in this generation, he who has been so strong to stand and 
so bold to go fonvard, he who has been such a fortress and tower to so 



14 Life and Character of James M. Moody. 

many — now that he is gone forever, may God's richest blessings rest upon 
all who are bereaved. 

Heavenly Father, send Thy grace and consolation to this mourning 
people. Bless the wife — Thou who hast put in the Holy Bible so many 
words for the widow, bless and comfort and guide her through life. 

Let Thy richest grace comfort these children. Lead each one of them 
into the very best and most useful life. Grant unto them to feel the 
immense responsibility of inheriting the fame of their father. God 
Almight}-, bless every friend and loved one who has been made sad by 
this death. 

Help us all, Thou great God of our salvation, help us all to consecrate 
our lives to Jesus Christ. May we all be a blessing to our country and 
make our generation better for having lived. 

Finally, give us a home in Thy glorious and eternal Kingdom, and the 
praise shall be Thine forever. 



Address of Mr. Pou, of North Carolina. 15 



Address of Mr. Pou, of north Carolina. 

Mr. Speaker: Others have spoken of the Hfe work of our 
deceased friend. Others have told of the struggle of his early 
manhood; how he overcame every obstacle and rose to promi- 
nence; of his success at the bar and in the political arena. It 
is merely my purpose to place a little Inmch of acacias on his 
grave in token of my friendship for my dead colleague. 

While his name still lingers upon the records of this Con- 
gress, while we .still see his familiar face, it is well we should 
pause to speak of his good qualities, that those who come after 
us may know that when J.\mes M. Moody died his State lost 
a devoted son and his country a patriotic Representative in 
Congress. 

How soon the greatest are almost entireh- forgotten ! For 
a moment we nia>- think the services of the most eminent 
member of this body are indispensable to his country, and yet, 
when Providence shall call him hence, his place will be imme- 
diately filled and the machinery of Go\-ernment never for an 
instant will stop. It were well if we could all keep in mind 
that life is but death's prelude, simply execution's stay. 

I desire to record this estimate of our deceased friend. He 
was kind-hearted and generous. He despised not one of God's 
creatures. He could not cherish malice. He was tender in 
his home. It Was not characteristic of him to speak evil of 
any man. He ardently loved his State. He was an American, 
willing to risk his life for his country. He was honest in his 
convictions. As a lawyer he was faithful to his clients; 
as solicitor in the courts he was faithful to his State; as a 
Representative in Congress he was faithful to the interest of 
the Republic as God gave him light to .see. 



i6 Life and Character of James M. Moody. 

And he believed in God. In the thunder he heard His voice, 
in the sunshine he saw His smile, and in the growing crops he 
perceived His all-pervading goodness and mere}'. 

As the spirit of this generous, patriotic man was passing out, 
as the beautiful mountains around his home were fading in 
life's twilight, as the merry laughter of rippling Richland was 
dying in his ears, let tis hope it was mercifully granted to him 
to see the white spires of the Celestial City and hear the music 
of the eternal morn. 



Address of Mr. Gibson, of Tointsscc. 17 



Address of Mr. Gibson, of Tennessee. 

Mr. Speaker: It was said by Mark Antony in the Roman 

fornni, with the dead body of the greatest of all Romans before 

him — 

I come to Imry Csesar, not to praisL- him. 

We come here to-day not to bur\- our late colleague and 
associate, James Moxtraville Moody, but to praise him. 
He was a man who deserved praise. Born and reared in the 
mountains of North Carolina, he was emphatically a mountain 
man, possessing all of the characteristics of the best ,specimens 
of typical mountaineers. I know these mountaineers. I have 
lived among them. Whenever I strike a mountaineer, I have 
a certain measure of respect for him, for he has come from the 
hands of God, without the additions which art or fashion jnits 
upon the most of men. He is emphatically a God-made man. 
The mountain men, not only of North Carolina, but of every 
section of our country, and especially the mountain men from 
the regions east of the Mississippi, have been noted during the 
whole of our history for the possession of manj- of the grandest 
characteristics that adorn eminence in manhood, citizenship, 
and patriotism. 

The mountain men of North Carolina, like tho.se of Tennes- 
see, are Nature's own children. You need not go among them 
to find leaders of fashion or ga>' followers of frivolit},-. The)- 
do not belong to the class who — 

Caper nimbly in a lady's chamber 
To the lascivious pleasing of a lute. 

But as friends none are more true, as citizens none are more 
patriotic, as Christians none are more devout. 
H. Doc. 466- 2 



t8 Life and Characlcr of James M. Moody. 

When the shadow of war darkens over the land, when the 
drum beats and the bugle blows, when the flag is run up in the 
sky, and the President calls on the brave and the patriotic 
to rally to the defense of our country, nowhere between the 
Atlantic and the Pacific, nowhere between the L,akes and the 
Gulf, do you find more men to rally or men to rally more 
quickly under the banner of their country than the stalwart 
sons of these mountains, and none braver or stronger. 

In the dark days of the American Revolution, when the 
cause of old England seemed in the ascendency, when the 
hearts of Washington and his compeers had begun t(3 weaken, 
and the l)right-winged dove of hope seemed about to fly away 
and the l>lack-winged vulture of despair to take its place; when 
Georgia had been subjugated and Cornwallis had overrun 
vSouth Carolina and North Carolina and was moving toward 
Virginia, and all the cities upon the Northern coast were in 
the possession of British soldiers or .sailors, then it was that the 
men of the mountains in which James MonTr.wille Moody 
was born and rai.sed, luider the leadership of John Sevier, after- 
wards the finst governor of Tennessee, and Isaac vShelby, after- 
wards the first governor of Kentucky, and their immortal 
compatriots, without any orders from the General Crovern- 
nient, without an\- of them wearing a uniform, without any 
of them armed with a weapon except those purchased with 
their own mone\-, and mounted on their own horses, descend- 
ing from those mountains of North Carolina like an avalanche 
of valor and patriotism, on that fateful day in October, 17S0, 
fell upon the British troops under Fergu.son, at Kings Moun- 
tain, and delivered a blow whose echoes were heard throughout 
the length and breadth of the infant Republic, encouraging the 
hearts of patriots everj- where, and whose reverberations cro.ssed 



Address of Mr. Gidsofi, of Tennessee. 19 

the Atlantic Ocean and warned King Oeori^e thai the tide of 
battle had at last turned against him in this New World. 

When, in the next war with England, after our armies had 
been defeated in almost every battle on American soil, after 
Hull had surrendered at Detroit, after this city had been cap- 
tured, the Capitol burned, the defenses of Baltimore l)ombarded, 
our seacoasts ravaged b}- English soldiers and English ships, 
when, in January, 1815, the victorious hosts of England were 
about to capture New Orleans, and in capturing New Orleans 
capture Louisiana and tlie Mississippi River and all tliat great 
Western country out of which so man>- grand States have since 
been can-ed, then it was that the mountain men of North Caro- 
lina, Tennessee, and Kcntuck>- confronted the Hritish forces on 
the plain of Chalmette, confronted the veteran soldiers who had 
defeated the armies of Napoleon in old Europe — then it was 
that these mountain riflemen, with Andrew Jackson at their 
head, hurled back the armies of Pakeuham and Gibbs, and won 
that victory which has made the name of Jackson and the l)attle 
of New Orleans immortal in the history of our country and in 
the annals of the world. 

Mr. Moody himself had no opportunity to distinguish himself 
in war, but when the conflict with Spain arose he at once offered 
his services to his country, and became an officer in our Army. 
He did all any brave man and patriot could do to .show liis 
devotion to his country; and if the necessities of the war had 
tfalled him to the field of battle he no doubt would have proved 
himself a worthy son of our mountain land. 

Mr. Moody lived at Waynesville, in "the land of the sky," 
a beautiful little mountain city 2,600 feet above the level of the 
sea, and surrounded by mountains 6,000 feet above the level of 
the sea — more than a mile higli. Look which way you will 



20 Life and Character of James M. Moody. 

from Mr. Moody's home and a most magnificent panorama of 
mountains stands Ijefore you, some of the peaks towering sub- 
hmely far into the heavens. Notably among these peaks is 
Junaleska, glorious in its majesty and sublime in its proportions. 
While we were attending the funeral the clouds and mists envel- 
oped all of the valleys and lower mountains. The great breast 
of Junaleska was enveloped as in a mighty garment, liut 
through the rifts of the mists could be seen the sunlight on its 
summit glittering like a crown of glor\- in the upper sky, 
recalling vividly the familiar lines — 

As some tall cliff thai lifts its awful form, 
Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm; 
Though round its breast the rolling clouds are spread, 
Eternal sunshine settles on its head. 

Such were the surroundings of Mr. Moodv'.s home. None 
could be lovelier, none more inspiring; and as were the moun- 
tains, so was he — massive in his person, a huge body, a great 
head, stalwart arms, legs of oak, and a heart big, brave, and 
l:)ountiful. No better specimen of our mountain men ever sat 
on this floor. Some may have thought him rather rough in his 
exterior, but, Mr. vSpeaker — 

Within the oyster's shell uncouth 

The purest pearl may bide; 
Trust me, you'll find a heart of truth 

Within that rough outside. 

Such was James Moxtk.vville Moody. As a mountain 
man I had a fellow-feeling for him, as a patriot I honored him, 
as a friend I loved him. In the very prime of life, but a few 
days ago in the very glory of healthful manhood, apparently 
armed against disease from head to foot, with apparently thirty 
years of active, useful, honorable life ahead of him, and behold, 
all on a sudden, we saw the flag above this Hall at half-mast. 
Many of us, knowing nothing of his sickness, and, if knowing 



Address of Mr. Gibson, of Tennessee. 21 

anything, not in the least suspecting a fatal issue, in(|uired 
" Who is dead?" The answer came, "Jamks Moxtraville 
Moody. ' ' 

He was dead, and his death warns us that death is no 
respecter of persons, that the stoutest, the bravest, the boldest, 
the youngest are as apt to be reached by the fatal shaft of the 
impartial archer as is the old man, tottering on his last legs, 
feebly walking, bent and bowed, with the aid of a cane. 

Let us draw a lesson from this, Mr. Speaker, to so conduct 
our li\'es that when the end comes to us — as come it niust, and 
come it will, and how soon we know not, for no man knoweth 
who.se name is written upon the arrow which the archer 
Death will next draw from his quiver — let us .so live that 
when the end comes to us we may fold our arms in hopeful 
resignation, tru.sting that when we close our eyes for the last 
time we close them to this world of trouble and of sorrow only 
to open them in that other world of peace and jo}-, in that 
other "land of the sky," where they will never be closed 
again, an<l that there, ready to greet us, in that blessed country 
of immortality we will behold, transfigured and all glorious, 
the person of our friend and colleague, J.\5iES Montr.willE 
Moody. 



22 Life and Character of James M. Moody. 



ADDRESS OF Mr. Thomas, of North Carolina, 

Mr. vSi>ic.\icKK : When a few weeks ago the wires flashed to 
his colleagues in Congress the sad news of the sudden death 
of Jamks M. Moonv the first impression, niingled with regret, 
made upon m>- mind was that the pitiless destroj-er of man- 
kind had stricken down in the prime of life one who was 
apparently the most robust of all the members of the North 
Carolina delegation. Po.ssessing a powerful physical frame 
and a strong constitution, it seemed to those who knew him 
well that man\- >-ears of active life were before him. But 
men, as well as -States and nations, nuist bow to the divine 
decree, and while we are divinely told that the allotted period 
of man's life is three .score and ten years, it is the universal 
human experience that death has no time and no season. 

I.eaves have their time to fall. 
Anil flowers to wither at the north-wiml's breath, 

And stars to set; but all, 
Thou hast all seasons for thine own, o Death! 

Horace, the Latin poet, \'oices another experience of hu- 
manity when he .says : 

" Pallida mors ;L-qno pulsat pede pauperuni tabernas regumque turres " — 
I'ale death with impartial foot knocks at the cottages of the poor and the 
palaces of ki ngs. ' ' Vitse .sunmia brevis spem nos vetat inchoare longam " — 
The short span of life forbids ns to form remote expectation."*. 

James Montkavillk Moody, Republican, of Waynesville, 
was born on a farm in Cherokee ( now Graham ) County, 
N. C, Februar\- 12, 1S5S. While an infant his ]iarents 
moved to Haywood Count}', where he lived and died. As a 
boy he worked on the farm during the summer months and 
attended the neighborhood .schools in the winter. At the age 
of 17 he entered Waynesville Academy, remaining two years, 



Addrrss of Mr. Thomas, of Nortli Carolina. 23 

aud then attended Candler College, in Buncombe County, 
N. C, for one year; studied law under a private instructor 
at Waynesville, and was admitted to the l)ar in January, 18S1. 
In 1886 was elected prosecuting attorney of the twelfth judi- 
cial district of North Carolina, and served in that capacity 
for four years. In 1894 was elected to the vState .senate for 
two years. He served through the Spanish-American war as 
major and chief cominis.sar\- of T'nited vStates \'()lnnteers on 
the .staff of Maj. Gen. J. Warren Keifer, who commanded 
the First Division of the Seventh Army Corps. He was 
elected to the Fifty-seventh Congress, receiving 19,334 votes, 
to 17,250 for \V. T. Crawford, Democrat. 

This brief biographical sketch from the Congressional Direct- 
ory discloses the .sterling qualities of this man to whom to-day 
we pay a last and an accu.stomed, but heartfelt and sincere 
tribute of respect. Lawyer, State senator, solicitor or prose- 
cuting attorney, major in the Spanish-American war, and 
Congressman — in the brief period of forty-five years few men 
have achieved such varied di.stinction. Every position which 
he won was by dint of hard and earnest work, and was the 
result of j)hysical and mental toil and effort. His success in 
life was achieved in his own home, among the mountains of 
North Carolina, which he loved .so well. If nothing was to 
stay the cold hand of death, it was meet and appropriate that 
he .should die within sight of those grand peaks of the Blue 
Ridge, piercing the clouds and .skies of tlie ' ' vSwitzerland 
of America" — western North Carolina — which have given 
inspiration and cheer and courage to .so many of the most 
distinguished of North Carolina's many di.stinguished sons; 
men like \'ance, Merrimon, Clingman, and nian\' others who 
have been loved and honored by North Carolinians. 

Ju.st a week before the de])arture of Mr. Moodv for his home 



24 Life and Character of James M. Moody. 

in Waynesville, when he was feeling depressed and ill, and 
with evidently some premonition of his approaching end, he 
said to a newspaper correspondent, " If I am going to die, I 
want to die where I have lived, among the mountains, God's 
country." To him it was indeed God's country, and the pure 
clear air of the mountains was to him the very Ijreath of life. 

In all of us dwells the abiding sense of our local attachments, 
and we long in our last moments to look upon those .scenes 
connected with the earliest and the most beloved memories and 
associations of our lives. When one of the Presidents of this 
great Republic, James A. Garfield, was stricken down by the 
assas.sin's bullet, Mr. Blaine tells us in his magnificent oration 
that his early craving for the sea returned and he was borne, 
accompanied by the hopes and prayers of the nation, to the 
"longed-for healing of the .sea, there to live or die, as God 
should will, within sight of its heaving billows, within sound 
of its manifold voices. ' ' 

And so James M. Moody craved once again for the healing 
of the mountains, the balsamic odors, the rugged and lofty 
peaks, the clear, blue .skj', and the marvelous changing and 
.shifting clouds and scenes of the ' ' Land of the Sky. ' ' 

His life was .spent among the people of this land from his 
earh' boyhood, and they loved, trusted, and honored him. He 
was faithful and true to them and failed not to respond to 
every call and demand of his State or country in peace or in 
war. Honest, laborious, rugged in character and phj'sique 
as his native and beloved mountains, let us hope that in his 
last moments he drew inspiration, comfort, courage, and peace 
from them, and was enabled to look up and beyond the mists 
and shadows which surround their lofty peaks and with the 
eye of faith to catch some glimpses of the eternal world and 
feel from the mountain tops the breath of the eternal morning. 



Address of Mr. Thomas, of North Carolina. 25 

IMr. Speaker, this sudden death of our colleatjue. following 
so many other deaths in this Congress, and, in my brief service 
of two terms in Congress, following the death of many eminent 
public men, including both a President and Vice-President 
of the Republic, emphasizes that our human life hangs by a 
thread; the sword of Damocles, as we sit at the feast, is 
suspended over us. 

"All men think all other men mortal but themselves;" and 
the idea of following in the footsteps of otir departed colleagues 
in and through the dark \'alley of the Shadow is far from the 
thoughts of any of us; yet we know neither the day nor the 
hour decreed for our departure. Whether it be near or far, 
however, the di.scharge of our duty to the district and the State 
we represent and to our country is the greatest of all earthly 
consolations when that inevitable hour comes. 

We are told by the historian: 

"Over a hundred years ago, on May 19. 1780, in Xew Eng- 
land there was a day of remarkable gloom and darkness, still 
known as 'the dark day,' a da\- in which the light of the sun 
was extinguished as if by an eclip.se. The legislature of Con- 
necticut was in .session; and as its members saw the unexpected 
darkness coming on, they shared in the general awe and terror. 
It was supposed by many that the last day, the Day of Judg- 
ment, had come. Some one, in the consternation of the hour, 
moved an adjounnnent. Then there arose an old Puritan legis- 
lator, Davenport, of vStamford, and said that if the last day had 
come, he desired to be found at his place doing his duty, and 
therefore moved that candles be brought in, so that the house 
could proceed with the legislative business." 

And so, as has been well said by that great captain and leader 
of the Southern armies, Robert E. Lee, duty is the sublimest 
word in the English language; and however near the final 



26 Life and Character of James M. Moody. 

summons may be to any one of us, the example of this old 
Puritan is worthy of imitation and commendation. And the 
discharge of our duty will be to us the most comforting thought 
in our last hour on earth. 

So live, tliat when thy suininons comes to join 
The innumerable caravan which moves 
To that mysterious realm where each shall take 
His chamber in the silent halls of death, 
Thou go not, like the quarr3--slave at night, 
Scourged to his dungeon, but sustained and soothed 
By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave 
Like one that wraps the drapery of his couch 
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams. 



Address of Mr. Small, of North Carolina. 27 



ADDRESS OF Mr. Small, of North Carolina. 

Mr. Speaker: Tlie Great Being has decreed that death must 
come to aU. When youth, with its rosy coloring and bright 
anticipations, ripens into maturity, it is the most conspicuous 
event which the future casts athwart the horizon. As the 
members of one's family and one's friends and acquaintances 
take their departure into the my.sterious future we are con- 
stantly reminded that we, too, may be the next to cross the 
dark river. It is well, perhaps, that the.se reflections .should 
bid tis pause from time to time in the biisy march of life and 
ask when each of us may fall from the ranks and join the 
innumerable company which have gone before. 

Familiarity with death and the consciousness of our lot does 
not, however, detract from the solemnity of each occasion when 
we are called upon to mourn the loss of one with whom we 
have been associated in life. Whether we look upon it with 
shuddering horror, or whether faith has clothed the life to 
come with brightness and happiness, or whether the suffering 
and unhappiness of this world look with welcome upon the 
tran.sition, it is .still all mysterious and unfathomable b)- the 
exercise of any of the faculties with which we are endowed. 
Let tho.se who have faith in immortality and in a brighter and 
better life nurture their faith and their anticipations, because 
they are therebx- made happier in this world and have a.ssur- 
ances of that which is to come. 

It was not m>- good fortune to know intimately Mr. Moody. 
While we both lived in the same State, yet we were separated 
several hundred miles. His home was in the mountains, under 



28 Life and Character of James M. Moody. 

the shadow, ahiiost, of Mount Mitchell, while \\\\ home was far 
even beyond the foothills, in the level tide-water plateau, near 
old ocean. 

I dislike a fuLsonie eulogy to the dead. There exist in 
every man, particularly those who have followed the lient of 
ambition and achieved distinction, characteristics and impulses 
which single him out apart from his fellows. There are none 
of us without faults. 

I was one of the members of this House who accompanied 
the committee on its sad mission to Waynesville to participate 
in the last honors to all that was mortal of our late friend and 
colleague. On the day when we laid his body away in the 
beautiful cemetery the elements contriliuted to add their share 
of gloom to the occasion. In his home town, nestling in a 
beautiful valley, and surrounded b\' grand and lofty moun- 
tains, which seem to wall it in from the outer world, the 
mist and the rain shrouded the mountain tops and swept over 
into the vale below. However, this did not deter the friends 
and acquaintances of the dead from gathering once more to 
gaze upon their comrade and honored citizen and to follow 
the cortege to his last resting place. Not only from the town, 
but from the surroundijig country, they came, on horseback 
and in vehicles, along heav_\' mountain roads and through 
the peltinu- rain. I talked with some of them about the dead 
man, and there were two characteristics upon which all were 
in harmony and upon which they loved to dwell. One was 
his kindly, impulsive, generous heart, particularly toward the 
helpless and the weak, and the other was his love of those 
whom we call the people. 

I have an intense admiration for a man of kindly, humane 
impulses and sympathetic heart; the man who carries with him 
sunshine, who can weep with those who are in sorrow and 



Addirss of Mr. Small, of Xortli Carolina. 29 

laugh with those wlio are in gladness; who speaks a kind and 
cheerful word to those who are despondent and luihappy and 
who extends the glad hand of encouragement to those who are 
faint-hearted: for the man who is willing to divide with the 
poor and who is ever ready to listen to the appeals of the less 
forttmate. The greatest of all virtties is charity- — charity of 
purpose, charity of opinion, the charity which overlooks frail- 
ties and the faults of others. It was said that very few 
appealed to him in vain, and that there were men and women 
among those sturdy mountaineers who had been lifted up and 
encouraged and induced to turn their faces again to the light 
under the inspiration of his kindly nature. 

Mr. MooDV had lieen reared among the people of the moun- 
tains. He had been in their homes; he was familiar with their 
habits, their trials, their hopes and aspirations. They had 
know!i him in \outh and they liad watched with pride his 
steadj* progress to manhood. Promotion and advancement did 
not cause him to forget his old friends and acquaintances. 
While ambitious, he was not proud. As he entered the world, 
far removed from his old en\'ironnients, surrounded b\- new 
faces and friends, his heart ever turned toward the mountains, 
and he was always .glad of the opportunit>- to mingle again 
with his people and to stand upon his native heath. When he 
left this beautiful city and gazed for the last time upon its 
stately Capitol, he realized that he might not return again, and 
expressed the wish, if he nuist die, that he be permitted to take 
a la.st farewell in si.ght of his mountains and surrounded by 
his own people. 

Charity and love of the people I These two traits alone are 
enough to distinguish him and to preser^-e his memorw The 
good minister who officiated in the solemn funeral services 
in the church referred to the beautiful floral offerings which 



30 Life and Character of James M. Moody. 

were piled in profusion around the bier and expressed the hope 
that the memory of Mr. Moody, might continue longer than 
the fragrance and life of those beautiful flowers. That hope 
will be realized. Not so much by the stately granite of the 
monument which shall be reared over his grave, but in the 
memory of the good men and women who knew his virtues 
in life and who will preserve them for all time to come as 
a sweet and precious heritage. 



Address of Mr. Kitchin, of North Carolina. 31 



Address of Mr. W. W. Kitchin, of north Carolina. 

Mr. Speaker: Under the order of the House I desire to 
record a tribute to the memor\^ of the departed friend whom 
eternity's dreaded deputy has so lately .summoned from our 
midst. Mr. Moody was a lawyer by profession, as are all the 
other Xorth Carolina Representatives. He was an earnest. 
Strong advocate, easily comprehending the important facts and 
presenting them with great clearness and power. He soon 
became recognized as a splendid inr\- lawyer. At the age of 
28 he was elected solicitor, or prosecuting attorney, as the office 
is called in some vStates, of what was then the twelfth judicial 
district of North Carolina, and ser\?ed as such for four years. 
There is, in my judgment, no position in the gift of the people 
better than a solicitor.ship for the development of a lawyer's 
mind and heart, for the growth of his love of justice and 
humanity, for quickening his understanding and improving 
his presentation of \-iews. This opportunity was taken b)- our 
friend, and his performance of its duties was the basis of his 
subsequent honors. 

In politics he was a staunch, uncompromising Republican 
and believed in the doctrines and policies of his party. In 
the most hotly contested campaigns known to our State in 
this generation, e\-en in those in which his party suffered 
defeat, his rugged honesty, his never failing loyalty, his 
undaunted personal courage were sources of strength to his 
party throughout the mountain section of the State. Not- 
withstanding his party zeal he had the respect and friendship 
of political opponents in a very large degree, perhaps more 



32 Life and Character of James .'/. Moody. 

so than aii>- other ptrsou in the State of equal activity and 
prominence in jiohtics. 

As a member of this l.wcly he was dihgent, and to every 
demand made upon him by his constituents he was attentive — 
a faithful servant of his people. Probably the most important 
work he did was in behalf of the Appalachian Park. He 
knew the country propo.sed to be embraced in it and under- 
stood the entire matter as few members do, and to him was 
intrusted the duty of preparing the report in its favor. It 
was near and dear to his heart, and I doubt not that one of 
the disappointments of his public career came to him when he 
found that the Appalachian Park bill would not be permitted 
to have consideration during this Congress. The work he 
did has not been lost, and we trust the day is not far di.stant 
when success will crown the efforts in behalf of that great 
national forest reserve which he and others began in this 
Congress. 

Mr. Moody and myself lived at the same hotel, and I 
learned to know him well. I remember distinctly the la.st 
time I .saw him. It was in the lobby of our hotel the day 
before he went home to prematurely lay down life's burden, 
and was probably the first time he had l)een out of his room 
in several weeks. The fatal malady had announced its pres- 
ence, and yet he was deeply interested in matters pertaining 
to his people. For him I had that day succeeded in having 
an item put in the Indian appropriation bill for the relief of 
some of his constituents, for whom he had introduced a bill. 
He was highlj' gratified, and expressed great pleasure over 
it, as it meant so much to his constituents. 

I had heard that his physician had fears for his recovery, 
and as I looked upon his massive frame I wondered that such 
fears could be serious, and hoped that his going home to his 



Address of Mr. Kilchin, of North Carolina. 33 

beautiful uumntain country would be followed by a speedy 
return to his accustomed health. A few days thereafter, on 
February 5, a telegram brought the sad news that James 
MONTRAVILLE MooDY was uo more. It was not my fortune 
to accompany the fune,ral party from this cit>-, the scene of 
his last activities, to Waynesville, where he died, but niy 
sympathies went to that sorrowing town and to his loved rf^nes 
bereaved. His wife and children have the cou.solation that 
inteo-rity, courage, ability, and honor leave, but above all else 
they have the hope that he awaits them in ' ' an house not 
made with hands, eternal in the heavens." Our friend had 
considered that all-important question: "What shall it profit a 
man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" and 
had made the preparation of wi.sdom by accepting the doctrines 
of Jesus Christ and dedicating himself to His service. When 
the silver cord is loosed and the golden bowl is broken the 
belief that our loved one's spirit lives forever where there is no 
sin is the greatest .solace good men and women can have. 

When this Congress began, one scanning its membership 
would never ha\-e selected our friend as destined to early death. 
He was a man of large proportions, about 6 feet tall, and 
weighed perhaps 225 pounds; broad-shouldered, a giant in 
physical strength. He seemed in the prime of vigorous 
manhood. We are reminded that with each day the never- 
erring archer comes nearer to us, and one by one his shafts 
shall take our lives. The sands in the hourglass run swiftly 
and the old must die, but the archer reserves not his arrows 
for them alone. The fall of friend after friend in age and in 
youth, in weakness and in strength, speaks to us as of old, 
"Be ye also ready." Death respects not youth or strength or 
anything of which mankind boasts. Decay claims all things 
H. Doc. 466 3 



34 Life and Character of James M. Moody. 

material. There is a limit for all that can be felt or seen; but 
to the immaterial there is no decay, no limit, no death. The 
spiritual lives forever free from the germs of disease, exempt 
from Time's corrosion. Death itself in the presence of the 
spiritual is po\verle.ss. "Death is swallowed up in victory. 
O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 
The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. 
But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victorj' through 
our Lord Jesus Christ." 



Address of Mr. Lamb, oj I irginia. 35 



ADDRESS OF Mr. Lamb, of Virginia, 

Mr. Speaker: Hon. James M. Moody was a useful mem- 
ber of the Committee ou Agriculture. I knew him well and 
watched his course on that committee. He was an attentive 
listener to all the hearings. He seldom addressed the com- 
mittee, but when he did he expressed himself with force and 
earnestness. His appeal for consideration of the bill establish- 
ing the " National Appalachian Forest Reserve " was impre,ssive 
and convincing, while the report he made on that measure to 
this House was clear and strong, showing the great necessity 
for the work and the inmiense advantages to follow its 
establishment. 

I attended the funeral of Major MooDV, and witnessed the 
last .sad rites over the remains of our colleague. The scene 
was impressive, and gave a remarkable evidence of the esteem 
and affection in which he was held by the community- where he 
was born and reared. A stream of people from the town of 
Waynesville and the .surrounding country passed in and out of 
the home of the dead Congressman to take a last look at their 
friend and Representative. Rain had been falling continuously 
for several hours. This did not deter the hard}- yeomanr}- of 
the counties from attending the funeral of their friend. They 
stood in long lines with .saddened countenances — the sons of 
men whom I have watched in battle so often, and seen their 
prostrate forms cover acres of mother earth after the clash of 
arms had ceased and the cannon's roar had died away. 

It was a strange circumstance, that just as the hour for the 
funeral services arrived the clouds lifted, the sun came out. 
Above the mists of the clouds shone the mountain peaks. It 



36 Life and Character of James M. Moody. 

was a glorious panorama I The lowlander feasted his e\es and 
wished he was an artist or a word painter. When the proces- 
sion was over, and Mother Earth held securely another of her 
toilers, the rain again fell steadily, and all nattire appeared in 
sympathy with the surrounding gloom and sorrow. 

I watched the mourning crowd disper.se. I noted the ex- 
Confederate soldiers, spoke to several of them, and heard 
one, who was in charge of an order of knights to which the 
deceased belonged, .say, "Close up, men." I had heard the 
expression before — had seen North Carolina's sons "close 
up" on many a hard-fought field. 

We know the early and later history of the Old North 
State. She gave the first martyr to the Revolution: the 
first to the glorious struggle for the rights of the South, 
and the finst for the Cuban independence. 

North Carolina has furnished to the countrj- many mili- 
tary and civic heroes who will occupy a high niche in the 
temple of fame, but no more touching tribute to the rank 
and file of her brave .sous can be made than the recording 
in her archives of the names of these three heroes. 

Their deeds will lie mentioned and their names repeated 
b}- the coming generations of the Old North State while the 
restless ocean laves her eastern shores and the silent moun- 
tains, that look eternal, guard her western confines. 

Amidst the charms and inspirations of western North 
Carolina our , deceased colleague grew up, struggling with 
difficulties and advancing step by .step until he was recog- 
nized as one of her mo.st useful citizens and honored by her 
people with various positions of trust and responsibility. 

I can best portra\- his public and private character and 
contribute my share in preserving a record of his life bj' 
quoting a part of a tribute to Maj(ir MooDV found in one 



Address of Mr. Laiiib,, of li'rginia. 37 

of the papers of his vState a few da\-s after his sad and 
untimely end: 

As a representative of the bar he was one of the most successful of the 
State. He was especially prominent as a criminal law}-er. His public 
ser\-ice gave general satisfaction to all classes of people regardless of faith 
or party. As State senator, as Congressman, no man ever labored more 
enthusiastically for the good of his county; he seemed to have every 
man's interest at heart and he labored hard that he might do the best for 
each anil all. He was devoted to his work and no social occasion ever 
persuaded him away from duty. But it is not necessary to speak at length 
of his public services. Their character is the best attestation of their 
worth and sincerity. They glow upon his country's histors-. They burn 
in shimmering glory upon his country's banner. They are writteji upon 
hearts of multitudes with a stj-lus of fire. 

.\s a man he was a center of attraction, a favorite among all classes of 
people. To know him was to love him; his great heart and personal mag- 
netism, his manly sympathy and noble affability, charmed thousands into 
his friendship. On this ground many men of the opposite political faith 
forgot their own party and voted for him. 

In the passing away of so many members of the Fifty- 
seventh Congress we are reminded that — 

Death rides on every passing breeze. 
He lurks in every flower. 

We have seen the youngest and the strongest fall Ijefore the 

"grim monster." 

Who will be the next victim? 

The youth in life's green spring and he who goes 
In the full strength of years, matron and maid, 
The speechless babe, and the gray-headed man — 
Shall one by one be gathered to thy side. 
By those, who in their turn shall follow them. 



38 Life and Cha meter of Juiiies M. Moody. 



Address of Mr. Clark, of Missouri, 

Mr. Speaker: When the Fifty-seventh Congress convened, 
if one had been called upon to select, on view, the two mem- 
bers destined for greatest length of days, he wotild most likely 
have selected R. C. De Graffenreid, of Texas, and James Mon- 
TKAviLi.E Moody, of North Carolina. In a month's journey 
a traveler would have found no more splendid .specimens of 
American manhood. Robust, in the morning of life, hand- 
some, ambitious, courageous, and patriotic, they have been cut 
off untimely, .suddenly, unexpectedly, to the amazement of 
their fellows and the sorrow of their friends. 

Mr. Moody served his country both in the field and in Con- 
gress. The record shows that he was a faithful .soldier and 
a faithful Representative. He posse.ssed in a large degree 
the popular manner, and consequently was a prime favorite 
both at home and in Washington. 

It .so happened. Mr. Speaker, that I was one of the Con- 
gressional committee appointed to attend his funeral at his 
home in Waynesville, amid the mountains of the old North 
State — among the people who knew him Ijest. The scenes 
witnessed there constitute a triumphant refutation of the 
cynical proverb, "Familiarity breeds contempt." We were 
among the familiars of James Montraville Moody — his 
kindred, his neighbors, his political supporters, his political 
opponents. There was no trace of contempt. There were 
indubitable signs of affection and grief on every hand. 

The rich, the poor, the old, the >-oung, white and black, 
male and female were there by the thousand, and the only 



Address of Mr. Clark, of .U/s.u>Hri. 39 

feeling- among those mountaineers was pride in the dead Con- 
gressman, sorrow for their departed friend. All the jireachers 
of the town participated in the funeral proceedings, and he 
was followed to the grave by the uniformed societies of the 
county and by a vast concourse of weeping constituents. 

It may be doubted if in this wide, wide world there is a 
more beautiful or picturesque spot than the place where Mr. 
Moody sleeps his final sleep. The mountains which he loved 
so well .stand mute sentinels about his grave. There we laid 
him to rest to await the final sunnnons which will call the 
quick and the dead to the judgment Ijar of God. 



40 Lijc and Character of Janus M. Moody. 



Address of Mr, Johnson, of South Carolina, 

Mr. Speaker; It is fitting that we should pause amid the 
pressing duties of the closing hours of the session to pay 
tribute to the memory of one of our fellow-members who has 
been taken from the scene of his labors by the remorseless 
hand of Death. 

It is well known that the people of mountainous sections 
of country are remarkable for their intensity of feeling, their 
love of independence and liberty, their generosity and hospital- 
ity, and their want of hypocrisy. The story of William Tell 
and the deeds of Robert Bruce are immortal tributes to the 
character of all mountain peoples. They are the most loyal 
people in the world. If they are your friends you need never 
doubt their fidelity, and if they are your enemies they never 
attempt to deceive you. 

Such are the people of western North Carolina, and James 
M. Moody truly represented them, not only upon the floor of 
this House, where he was always their able and faithful 
champion, but he represented them as a man. Those who 
opposed him knew that he was actuated always by the high- 
est and purest motives, and those who labored with him knew 
that he never tried to deceive an opponent. The crags and 
peaks of the Blue Ridge stand like everlasting monuments 
to the native honesty of his warm and generous heart. 

As a member of the Committee on Agriculture he was in 
a position to ser\-e his constituents in a .substantial way, and 
his service was always at the command of his people. No 
member of the House was more deeply interested in the 
proposed Appalachian Fore.st Reserve than was Mr. Moody, 



Address of Mr. Johnson, of North Carolina. 41 

because that measure was of more importance to his people 
than any other that has been before this Congress. Not 
only the people of his own Congressional district, but all the 
millions who dwell between the mountains and the sea are 
indebted to him for his untiring efforts in support of this 
measure which is of stich vast importance to them. 

Of course no words that any member of this Congress 
cotild utter would lessen the grief of the stricken wife and 
children, but it may be some consolation to them to know 
that he was honored among those with whom he labored, 
and who knew the nature of his duties, and the manner in 
which he performed them. He was in the midst of his man- 
hood, and at his post of duty, when Death, which must come 
sooner or later to each one of us, came rapping at his door, 
and he has crossed over the river, as we all hope and believe, 
to begin the better life. 

There is no death! The stars go down 

To rise upon some other shore, 
And bright in Heaven's jeweled crown 

They shine foreverniore. 

There is no death! The forest leaves 

Convert to life the viewless air; 
The rocks disorganize to feed 

The hungry moss they bear. 

There is no death! The dust we tread 

Shall change beneath the summer showers 

To golden grain or mellow fruits 
Or rainbow-tinted flowers. 

There is no death! The leaves may fall, 

The flowers may fade and pass away — 
The\^ only wait through wintry hours 

The warm, sweet breath of Mav, 



Life and Cluiractcr of James M. Moody. 



ADDRESS OF Mr. BLACKBURN, OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Mr. Speaker: Another passenger is cast upon the echoless 
shore. One of our comrades is gone. Time's relentless tide 
heaves unceasingly, and back from the cruel breakers of the 
great unknown comes no message. Moody of North Carolina 
has joined the innumerable hosts and answers to the roll call of 
another house. The stillness of the grave .shrouds in silent 
mystery all that was mortal of our contemporary. His seat is 
vacant and the work he was seemingly chcsen to do remains 
unfinished. He goes out and is among us no more. His stal- 
wart manhood succumbed to the cruel edicts of fate and we 
know him only for what he was. His sudden taking off is a 
sad reminder that to us all death comes soon or late. His work, 
only begun, remains as an earnest of what his genius might 
have accomplished had he been spared a little while longer. In 
his brief career, to those who knew him well, are many traits 
of character we might well emulate. Born in western North 
Carolina in February, 1858, remote from the centers of 
population and the advantages of educational facilities, he 
accomplished much more than most of us. His parents were 
poor, but gave to him as an heritage tho.se sterling qualities of 
manhood and integrity which make themselves felt, whether in 
the remote .sections of our great land or the greatest centers of 
intelligence. From the lofty peaks among which he spent his 
childhood he gathered inspiration and drank in the deep drafts 
of worthy ambition. 

His early life was not unlike that of the many hundreds of 
whom he was one, but his young soul was not content with the 
mere humdrum, and life held for him greater charms and the 
future rare prizes, won by those only who have the energy to 
seek and the ability to acquire. In the simple surroundings of 



AMn-ss of Mr. B/arkbunt. of N'orlh Carolina. 43 

his childhood there was no trail to direct him, but his ,i,'eniiis 
blazed the path, and Moody's ambition and energy built the 
highway which identified him with the legislation of his State 
and nation ere he had reached the noontide of life. In early 
years he studied law, was admitted to the bar, and practiced in 
the town of Waynesville, X. C, from which point he was soon 
able to reach out and make himself felt in all the important 
litigation of the entire district, which he afterwards represented 
on the floor of this Chamber. In 1S84 he was elected mayor 
of his town. In 1 886 he was elected solicitor of his district, and 
.served the people and State with considerate and marked ability. 

In 1892 the Republican State convention nominated him for 
lieutenant-governor of North Carolina, and he canvas.sed the 
State for his principles and party in his own forceful and digni- 
fied way. Two years later he went to the legislature of North 
Carolina, representing the interest of his people and maintaining 
the principles of his party with all the energy and force of his 
broad nature. When the Spanish war was upon tis, President 
McKinley honored him with a commission of major in the ranks 
of the volunteer forces of our Arm>-, where he remained until 
the protocol was signed and peace declared. November 6, 1900, 
found him Congressman-elect from the Ninth North Carolina 
district, in which position he served his remaining days. His 
people loved him as their own. Their every wish was his: his 
very interest theirs. He served them with a devotion both 
interesting and pathetic, and his untimely taking off was to 
them as deep a regret as to us a surprise and pain. 

In disposition he was amiable and kind, in decision firm, in 
all things honest, at all times sympathetic, ever manly. One of 
nature's own noblemen, he spent his life in sunshine and the 
accomplishment of good. Born and reared in one of nature's 
great amphitheaters, surrounded b>' lofty peaks and uprising 
hills, he learned her lessons and taught her philosophy. His 



44 Life and Character of James M. Moody. 

mind reached beyond the narrow limits of district and State 
lines and his one object was the welfare of our common country. 
Against conditions sterile and uninviting in his beginning, he 
staked his manhood, and ere the brief lapse of one generation's 
history he had written his name upon the permanent records of 
his country. By sheer force of character, good-fellowship, 
generous nature, and kind thought beyond the range of those 
about him, he was leader. The world looks for men to do 
things; when the time came Moody was there. In politics he 
was a Republican, but the bitterest foe in political strife would 
not dare suggest aught against his character, manhood, integ- 
rity, or broad generosity. 

He fought for what he conceived to be right, upon that 
broad plane which guarantees at all times the right to think 
and act as we deem best. He had delved in the darkness and 
emerged into light. Out of the crude he molded order, and 
with all he found generous friendship. He was primarily one 
of the people. Up from the simple walks of life he forged his 
course, never forgetting the route by which he came or those 
met upon the way. In his walk there was no boast of her- 
aldry or pomp of power, but the genuine .simplicity of a nature 
true to itself and those about it. The glamour of pompous 
show appealed in vain to his sturdy mind, and he lived as he 
was, one of the great mass. From the liarefoot boy of a few 
brief stammers gone he had emerged into the lawyer, the 
legislator, the statesman, and in this Hall we knew him as 
a representative of his people, laboring at all times for their 
welfare and their good. 

The measure of greatness is not so much what is done as the 
means by which it is accomplished. In the affairs of this life it 
is ordinarily results that count, and vastly greater is the genius 
of the architect who builds the structure of material of his own 
mold than he who places together that which is already prepared 



Address of Mr. Dlackbnni, of North Carolina. 45 

by some one else. Of the first class was Moody. He had 
hewn his own timber, molded his own fastenings, and erected 
his own structure. How well he did it the history of his coun- 
try and people will tell. Struck down in the vigor of manhood, 
the beginning of permanent usefulne.ss, we can but speculate 
his future career and mourn his sad demise. He was here 
in season and out of season for the people who trusted him 
and loved him, and their confidence he never abu.sed. 

With ceaseless energy he had labored for the fulfillment of 
his one dream. The Appalachian Park was his hope, aud 
upon its establishment he had .set his heart. With patience 
and anxiety he awaited the opportune hotir to tell his people 
that his work was completed, but it never came. The pale 
horse and his rider pa.ssed this way and another light went 
out. Those of us still here bow to the will of Him who holds 
us in the hollow of His haud and doeth all things well, and 
await with simple resignation the final call. This day we 
dedicate to the memory of those who have preceded us. 
^looDV's name we call with reverence; true as a friend, kind 
and' patient as a husband, indulgent as a father, honest as a 
citizen and legislator, we pa}- to him this last rite, extend to his 
commiuiity, friends, and bereaved family our deepest sympathy, 
and record it upon the pages of our country's histor}\ 

For him no more the blazing hearth shall burn. 
Or busy housewife pi}" her evening care; 

No children run to lisp their sire's return. 
Or climb his knee, the envied kiss to share. 

All that was mortal of him we have laid to rest in the 
silent churchyard among his native hills. There he sleeps 
silently, peacefully, in the bosom of his country and his God, 
awaiting his final summons and eternal reward. 

And then (at 4 o'clock and 25 minutes p. n\.), in pursuance 
of the resolutions, and as a further mark of respect to the 
memory of the decea.sed members, the House adjoiu'ned. 



Proceedings in the Senate. 

February 6, 1903. 
jiessage froji the house. 

The message further communicated to the Senate the 
inteUigence of the death of Hon. Jajies Montraville 
Moody, late a RepresentatiYe from the State of North Car- 
ohna, and transmitted resohitions of the House thereon. 

The message also announced that the Speaker of the House 
had appointed Mr. Kluttz, of North Carolina; Mr. Blackburn, 
of North Carolina; Mr. Claude Kitchin, of North Carolina; 
Mr. Brownlow, of Tennessee; Mr. Gibson, of Tennes.see; Mr. 
Tate, of Georgia; Mr. Finley, of South Carolina; Mr. John- 
son, of South Carolina; Mr. Lamb, of Virginia; Mr. Haugen, 
of Iowa; Mr. Henry, of Connecticut; Mr. Ranclell, of Texas; 
Mr. Cooney, of Missouri; Mr. Pou, of North Carohna; Mr. 
Small, of North Carolina; Mr. Clark, of Missouri; Mr. Wright, 
of Pennsylvania, and Mr. Cochran, of Missouri, members of 
the committee on the part of the House to attend the funeral 
of the deceased Representative. 

DEATH OF REPRESENTATIVE JA.AIES JI. MOODY. 

Mr. SiJiMONS. I ask the Chair to lay before the Senate the 
resolutions from the House of Representatives relative to the 
death of my colleagiie in that body. 

The President pro tempore. The Chair lays before the 
Senate resolutions of the House, which will be read. 

47 



48 Life and Character of James M. Moody . 

The vSecretary read the resohitions, as follows: 

Resolved, That the House of Representatives has learned with profound 
sorrow of the deatli of the Hon. James Montraville Moody, member of 
this House from the State of North Carolina, 

Resoli'ed, That a committee of members of the House, with such mem- 
bers of the Senate as may be joined, be appointed to take order concerning 
the funeral of the deceased. 

Resolved, That the Clerk communicate these resolutions to the Senate, 
and transmit a copy of the same to the family of the deceased. 

Resolved, That as a further mark of respect to the memory of the 
deceased, the House do now adjovirn. 

Mr. Simmons. Mr. President, later a iitimber of Senators 
will submit remarks to the Senate on the life and character of 
the deceased. For the present the resolutions of the House 
ma}' lie on the table, and I ask unanimotis consent for the 
adoption of the resolutions which I .send to the desk. 

The President pro tempore. The Senator from North Caro- 
lina submits resolutions, which will lie read. 

The Secretary read the resolutions, as follows: 

Resolved, That the Senate has heard with deep sensibility the announce- 
ment of the death of Hon. J.\mes M. Moody, late a Representative from 
the State of North Carolina. 

Resolved, That a committee of five Senators be appointed by the Presi- 
dent pro tempore, to join the committee appointed on the part of the 
House of Representatives, to take order for superintending the funeral of 
the deceased. 

Resolved, That the Secretary communicate these resolutions to the 
House of Representatives. 

The President pro tempore. The question is on agreeing 
to the re.solutions. 

The resolutions were unanimously agreed to. 

The President pro tempore appointed as the conunittee 
under the second resolution Mr. Pritchard, Mr. Sinunons, Mr. 
Clark, of "\\'yoming; Mr. Dietrich, and Mr. Heitfeld. 

Mr. Simmons. Mr. President, I move, as a further mark of 
respect to the memory of the deceased, that the Senate do 
now adjourn. 



Prcardino^s in the Sen ale. 49 

The motion was unanimousl}- agreed to; and (at 3 o'clock 
and 18 minutes p. m. ) the Senate adjourned until to-mor- 
row, Saturday, February 7, 1903, at 12 o'clock meridian. 

February 23, 1903. 

message from the house. 

The message further communicated to the Senate resolu- 
tions passed by the House commemorative of the life and 
services of Hon. James Montkavili^E Moody, late a Repre- 
sentative from the State of North Carolina. 
H. Doc. 466 4 



MEMORIAL ADDRESSES. 

March i, 1903. 

Mr. Pritchard. Mr. President, I ask that the resohitions 
from the House of Repre.sentatives coniniemorative of the Hfe 
and character of Hon. James M. Moody, late a member of 
the House of Repre.sentatives from the State of North 
CaroHna, may be laid before the Senate. 

The President pro tempore. The Chair lays before the 
Senate the resolutions of the Hou.se of Representatives, which 
will be read. 

The Secretary read the resolutions, as follows: 

In the House of Representatives, 

February 22, /goj. 
Resolved, That in pursuance of the special order heretofore adopted 
the House proceed to pay tribute to the memory of the Hon. James 
MoNTRAViLLE MooDV, late a member of the House of Representative.s 
from the State of North Carolina. 

Resolved, That as a particular mark of respecl to the memory of the 
deceased, and in recognition of his eminent abilities as a faithful and dis- 
tinguished public servant, the House, at the conclusion of the memorial 
proceedings, shall stand adjourned. 

Resolved, That the Clerk communicate these resolutions to the Senate. 
Resolved, That the Clerk be, and he is hereby, instructed to send a copy 
of the.se resolutions to the family of the deceased. 

Mr. Pritch.\rd. Mr. President, I offer the resolutions 
which I .send to the desk. 

The President pro tempore. The resolutions submitted 
by the Senator from North Carolina will be read. 

5' 



52 Life atid Chaiadcy of James M. Moody. 

The Secretary read the resolutions, as follows: 

Resol-jed, That the Senate has heard with profound sorrow the an- 
nouncement of the death of Hon. James M. Moodv, late a Representative 
from the State of North Carolina. 

Kesolz'cd. That the business of the Senate be now suspended, in order 
that fitting tribute be paid to his memorj-. 

Reso/vfd, That as an additional mark of respect the Senate, at the 
conclusion of these ceretnonies, do adjourn. 

Resolved, That the Secretary- communicate these resolutions to the 
House of Representatives. 



Address of Mr. Pritchard, of North Carolina. 53 



ADDRESS OF MR. PRITCHARP, OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Mr. President: James Montraville Moody wa.s born 
ill Cherokee Comity, X. C, February 12, 1858, and died 
at his home in Waynesville on February 5, 1903. He left 
surviving him a wife and six children, the eldest, a lad 
of 16, inheriting his father's name. 

When Mr. Moody was 2 years of age his parents moved 
to Jonathans Creek, Haywood County, where he was reared 
and where he lived until his majority. In his ycnitli he 
worked on the farm and went to school until he acquired 
such education as the local schools could give. Afterwards 
he continued to labor on the farm, using the means thus 
obtained to defray his expenses while attending Waynesville 
Academy and Candler College. 

He read law under Judges W. B. Ferguson and W. L. 
Norwood, and was licensed as a' practicing attorney by the 
supreme court of North Carolina at the January term, 188 1, 
and immediately entered upon the practice of his profession 
at Waynesville, where he resided at the time of his death. He 
was mayor of Waynesville in 1885, and was elected solicitor of 
the twelfth judicial di.strict in 1886. He was the candidate 
of his party for lieutenant-governor in 1892. He was elected 
to the State senate in 1894, and was commissioned as a major 
in the volunteer service of the United States during the Spanish- 
American war in 1898, and assigned to dutj' on the staff of 
Maj. Gen. J. Warren Keifer, and by his manly bearing and 
conscientious di.scharge of duty won the confidence and esteem 
of the officers and men with whom he served and the lasting 
personal friendship of General Keifer. In 1900 he was elected 



54 /.//? a7!d Character of James M. Moody. 

a member of the Fift>-seventh Congress of the United States 
from the Ninth Congressional district, and at the time of his 
death was a contestant for a seat in the next House. Mr. 
Moody was a good lawyer, and at the time of his death was 
quite distinguished in the criminal l^ranch of his profession. 
His life was in the main a successful one and was wholl}' free 
from stain. Those who knew him best valued him highest. 
He was a son of nature, and the mountaineers among whom he 
was bred rallied to him in everj- crisis of his career b}- a kind of 
magnetic attraction. The humblest constituent felt free to 
address him bj- his Christian name unmarked bj- any prefi.N; 
whatsoever. Of humble extraction, he raised himself into a 
higher sphere without any false dignity derived from his new 
associations. Like \'ance, Swain, ]Merrimon, Woodfin, and 
other notable men of the western section of my State, Mr. 
Moody was cabin-born, and he continued to be cabiu-loving 
after reaching preferment in another circle. Like those men, 
he had that intense love for his mountain home which, I think, 
distinguishes all born under such surroundings. In life and in 
death he contintied to be of the "plain people," as Mr. Lincoln 
called our yeomanry, meaning it to be, as it was, the language 
of affection. Mr. Moody was a man of stalwart phy.sique, in 
the very noon of life, and enjoying until recently the fullness 
of health, hence his death came as a shock to his friends, his 
constituents, his party. He was a most devoted Republican, 
exhibiting at all times strong and unflinching convictions. 
And yet he maintained throughout repeated campaigns the 
respect of his opponents, and died with the good will of all men. 
The legislature of his native State adjourned in honor of his 
memory, after taking suitable action to preserve it. although a 
ver}' large majority of its members were active partisans of 
a different political faith. 



Address of Mr. Pritchard. of North Carolina. 55 

His funeral was largely attended by liis friends and neigh- 
bors, who were anxious to show their respect for the memory 
of one whom they had known from his earliest childhood. I 
am told that his end was peaceful; that he faced his higher 
destinj' with unabashed brow and saw the seals of his fate 
unrolled without fear. He had his faults, but against his fail- 
ings he made fight, manful fight, and if he but parti}' won let 
us leave the unfinished fight, as he did, to a stronger arm and 
a brighter intelligence. 

Mr. President, perhaps the most worthy sen-ice rendered by 
my deceased friend, and one with which his name will be hon- 
orably connected in the coming years, was his labor in behalf 
of the Appalachian Park Re.ser\-e. To that enterprise he gave 
the best energies of brain and body. It was nearest his heart 
to the day when he was stricken with the fearful summons to 
lay aside his work on earth. That his fondest hope in behalf 
of that truly national project will yet find fulfillment I have 
never permitted myself to doubt. The magnificent territory 
between the Blue Ridge and the Alleghanies, .stretching 
through several of our finest Atlantic States, giving nurture to 
the streams which later become national highways, crowned 
with the loftiest watersheds of the East, and adorned with such 
flora as no other temperate zone can show, is destined under 
God to be the pleasure ground of half the continent. 

When that reasonable and worthy hope is realized I fancy a 
sweeter sleep will steal over him whom we have lateh- laid to 
rest. I fanc>- some kind ministering messenger will be sent 
to give him word that his last work on earth was not wholly 
fruitless. 



56 Life and Character of James M. Moody. 



Address of Mr. Mallory, of Florida. 

Mr. President: It is a natural impulse that prompts those 
who, by association or observation, have learned the intrinsic 
merit of one who has closed a life of usefulness, to pay such 
tribute as can be conveyed b>- our inadequate powers of ex- 
pression, to the memory of such a career. When Death has 
placed his imprimatur on the last chapter of our little earthly 
life story, and what we have done for good or ill has thereby 
become fixed forever, a part of our irrevocable and unamend- 
able record, it is eminently proper that not only those who 
have the incentive of personal affection, but that those who 
in the casual intercourse of a strenuous existence hav-e had 
occasion to note exceptional, and shining traits in the character 
and career of one who has passed away forever, should also 
put in as permanent a shape as possible the results of their 
observation. This impulse ought to have, and generallj' does 
have, with the thoughtful, a higher and nobler inspiration 
than that which evolved the maxim of the ancients which 
enjoined naught but good when speaking of the dead. 
Example is the most potent of preceptors. The object lesson 
is the most impressive method of reaching the understanding 
and shaping the inclination of the j'oung, and the oftener we 
can present to their plastic minds authentic illustrations of 
character which of itself conquers adverse environment, rises 
to eminence by its innate merit and wins the respect and 
esteem of good men and women, the greater the probability 
of our inspiring those who are to follow us with a zealotis 
purpo.se of emulating such \-irtue. 



.-Iddivss of Mr. Mallory, of Florida. 57 

The life ston- of James Moxtraville Moody is sufficiently 
striking to justify us iu essaj'ing to preserve it from oblivion. 
Born among the mountains of western North Carolina Febru- 
ary 12, 1858, he died one week before his forty-fifth birthday, 
on February 5, 1903. The illness which ended his life began 
here in Washington, but did uot prove fatal until after his 
arrival at his home in Wayuesville, where he breathed his 
last, surrounded by his wife and six children, the eldest of 
whom, a boy, is 16 years of age. 

Like most of the people of that part of North Carolina, 
young Moody's parents, during his boyhood, were in very 
moderate circumstances, and for a number of years his attend- 
ance at the local school was made subordinate to his attention 
to farm work. As he grew older and began to develop the 
splendid physique which in the full flower of manhood made 
him a most striking figure, he worked industriously on a farm 
until he had accumulated means enough wherewith to pay his 
schooling at the Waynesville Academy for two years and to 
place him at Candler College in North Carolina, where he 
remained one year. Having thus acquired a fairly good educa- 
tion, he returned to Waynesville, and while maintaining himself 
there studied law and was admitted to the bar iu 1S81. In 
18S6 he had by his industry and ability .so impres.sed the people 
of the twelfth judicial district that they elected him prose- 
cuting attorney for that district, which position he filled for 
four years with credit to himself and advantage to the State. 

In 1S94 he was elected to the State senate of North Carolina 
for two years, and continued the practice of law until the 
beginning of the recent war with Spain, when he volunteered 
and served throughout that war on the staff of Gen. J. Warren 
Keifer as major and commis.sary. In November, 1900, he 
was elected on the Republican ticket to the Fifty-seventh 



58 Life and Character of James 31. Moody. 

Congress from the Ninth Congressional district of North 
Carolina, which position he was filling at the time of his 
death. 

The characteristic feature of this brief record of his career is 
his purpose and unremitting effort to advance himself in obedi- 
ence to the promptings of an honorable ambition. It is difficult 
for one unacquainted with the conditions that environed his 
youth to appreciate the depressing, almo.st insurmountable ob- 
stacles with which he had to contend in his progress upward. 
The region in which his youth was passed was isolated from 
the busy, bustling world by the rugged ramparts of the Appa- 
lachian Range, and to a certain extent was a terra incognita 
even to the people of other .sections of North Carolina. Hard 
conditions and hard living were the rule, and the young men 
of that section who aspired to rise unaided to commanding 
positions in the eyes of the people of any considerable part of 
the State could not well exaggerate the seriousness of the 
undertaking. But young Moody was of a material as rugged 
and unyielding as the blue-hazed mountains that from his 
infancy had shut in his horizon from the outer world. An 
early taste for reading had developed in him aspirations and 
ideals which the narrow sphere in which he moved and the 
hard conditions in which his lot seemed to have been cast would 
alone have scarcely justified. But the fever of a noble ambi- 
tion was in his blood, and with eye steadily fixed upon the goal 
at which he aimed, he undauntedly dedicated himself to an 
unswerving pur.suit of the difiicult upward path that he had 
elected to follow. How well he adhered to that purpose is 
amply revealed by the brief recital I have given of the salient 
events in his public life. 

Among his people those elements of character that make for 
strength, truth, and justice always attract attention, and when 



Add I CSS of Mr. Mallory, of Florida. 59 

tried aud proven the> never fail to command general confidence 
and favor. Singularly modest and unassuming, of maimer as 
gentle as a woman, and with a heart as responsive as that of a 
child to the griefs of others, this stalwart, kindly eyed moun- 
taineer grappled to that heart with hooks of steel the unre- 
served affection of all who came in intimate contact with him. 
Yet was his amiable and sj^mpathetic nature untainted by any 
trace of weakness. Never self-assertive in nonessentials, he 
was as unyielding in the support of the principles in which he 
believed as the basic rocks of his native hills. It is said of him 
by those who best knew him that in the several heated political 
contests in which he actively and successfully engaged as a 
principal he never lost a friend nor made an enemy. 

It would be strange indeed if such a character, so steadfast 
and true in the obser\'ance of his public obligations, should 
have been otherwise than a devoted husband and father. He 
was essentially a son of the land of the sky, and, like the 
eagle, he fretted and chafed when exiled from his mountain 
home. To him his modest home at \\'a\-ne.sville was the altar 
at which he worshiped, and within its walls were enshrined 
the objects of his soul's adoration. It was his fondest hope 
to give to his children advantages which he had been denied, 
or which, at best, he had but imperfecth' enjoj'ed, and with- 
out doubt the bitterest pang he experienced, when realizing 
that his hours on earth were numbered, was in the thought 
that those loved ones, so dependent in their weakness, should 
be bereft of his guiding hand and sheltering affection. 

The spectacle of a helpless little brood, hushed and awe- 
stricken, in the presence of a calamity so dire, the enormity of 
which their understanding fails fully to comprehend, is one that 
we are constantly called on to witness; but witness it as often 
as we may, its recurrence never fails to thrill our hearts with 



6o Life and Character of James M. Moodv. 

sympathetic emotion and to cause us to marvel at the mystery 
of our ways — 

That are never all in darkness, ami are never whollv bright. 

Mr. President, there exists in the minds of many worthy 
people an impression, little .short of conviction, that active 
participation in political life, a.s we have it in this countrj', is 
essentially demorahzing, and that the man who devotes himself 
to the pursuit of such honors and distinction as constitute its 
prizes must necessaril}^ suffer more or less moral detriment. 

That, unhappily, there have been instances which those who 
make this contention may cite in its support will not be denied, 
but such cases are relatively rare, and certainly can not justly 
cast a smirch on the memory or reputation of the many 
honored names that adorn our political history. 

That political life, like any other .sphere in which men 
contend with each other, presents temptations, which embraced 
will produce demoralization, is undoubtedly true, but that such 
temptations are less successfulh' resisted in the political than 
in other fields of acute human contention is controverted by 
the observation and experience of every unprejudiced mind. 

The life and career of the .subject of this .sketch is illustrative 
of this view. After having won all the honors for which he 
had .striven — and his political contests were always charac- 
terized by energy and zealous effort on both sides — he remained 
the same kindly, unaffected character, the same frank, honest, 
and outspoken exponent of truth and justice that he was when 
as a young man he won the respect, esteem, and devotion of 
the sturdy mountaineers with whom his fortunes were cast, 
lu his make-up there was no alloy, no baser metal that could 
be marred bj' the corroding touch of sordid influences. 

A modest, unaffected gentleman; a citizen who enjoyed the 



Ai/dirss of Mr. Mallory. of Florida. Si 

confidence and personal regard of all classes of his fellow- 
citizens; a patriot who, at the first peal of the dread tocsin of 
war. stepi)ed to the front with sword and life dedicated to his 
country's cause; a Representativ^e of his people in the nation's 
great council, justl)- conservative, but ever alert to the interests 
of his constituency, and a husband and father most devoted; 
his life story, rounded and complete, will e\-er be an inspiration 
to those who, disheartened by repre.ssive conditions, j-et aspire 
to the realization of loftier ideals. 

The President pro tempore. The question is on agreeing 
to the resolutions .submitted by the Senator from North Caro- 
lina [Mr. Pritchard]. 

The re.solutions were unanimously agreed to, with the excep- 
tion of the one relating to adjournment. 



** 



